DEAD SEED (AKA "Vampires Don't Exist")

TWENTY-TWO: Mercy

The first real sign of pregnancy came only a few days later. Aralyn had been sleeping in Aimeric's arms when she was violently awakened by the sick feeling in her stomach. She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to vomit, barely making it to the toilet in time.

Hands shaking, Aralyn took the pregnancy test that Frederick had purchased a few days ago. She had been holding off on taking it, not wanting to confirm anything. But her period was officially late, and now she was throwing up, so she knew she couldn't put it off any longer.

While she waited for the test to develop, she washed her face and brushed her teeth, gagging and almost throwing up again when the toothbrush hit the back of her tongue.

She looked at the test, heart skipping a beat when she read the digital word: pregnant.

Fuck, he was right. Orrin had somehow known. Of course, she would be one of the "lucky" ones that got pregnant on the first try. Oh, how her aunt would hate her.

When she went back to bed, Aimeric was waiting for her, having woken up at her sudden rush.

"What was that?" he asked her, curiosity in his icy eyes.

"I got sick," she mumbled, crawling back into bed.

"Are you pregnant?"

"Yes." She laid back down, closing her eyes against the nausea that had returned. Aimeric kissed the top of her head.

"Good. We will release our man tonight."

She wasn't paying much attention to him. Her eyes were heavy, and she wanted to go back to sleep.

When Aralyn woke up again, she was alone in the bed. She looked outside, through a small hole Aimeric had made in the shutters so she could see outside. Nightfall. Aimeric must have gone to feed. She got ready for her nightly routine. The nausea was mostly gone now, thankfully. Her stomach still felt a little shaky, but she figured that was because she hadn't eaten yet.

She went to the kitchen and ate a few pieces of toast and a banana. As she finished off the food with a glass of orange juice, she heard a terrible scream from the basement.

Aimeric hadn't gone to feed. He had gone to "release" Darren.

Aralyn set the glass down and went down the stairs to the prison. The door was cracked open. She covered her nose at the stench of blood and feces and peered inside. First, she saw a dead man hanging from the ceiling. He looked like he had been dead for a few days; he was bloated and parts of him were ... leaking.

She shuddered and looked away. No matter how many times she saw dead bodies, she was still horrified by them.

Then there was Aimeric. He had Darren on the metal table, naked and bloody. Aimeric had tied a rope around the man's penis so tightly it was cutting off the circulation. There were wires attached to small clamps on his nipples.

"Did you enjoy fucking her?" Aimeric was asking. He had his hand on a switch.

"You made me, you sick fuck!" Darren screamed in response.

Aimeric flipped the switch and Darren's body convulsed as he was shocked. It wasn't enough to kill him, unfortunately for him. Aimeric turned off the switch and let Darren recover for a few minutes. The poor man's chest heaved as he gasped for breath.

Aimeric then took a pair of needle-nose pliers and wrapped a wire around one of Darren's fingers.

"How fucking dare you," Aimeric continued, tightening the wire around his finger with the pliers. Darren screamed as it became so tight it started cutting through the flesh of his finger. Aralyn saw he was already missing two on that hand; two bloody stumps left, the disconnected fingers lying on the table beside him.